Network Security Risks for Central Stations

Bill Brousseau, vice president of secure global solutions’ Network Operations Center (NOC) in Milwaukee, has been invited to present a public seminar on the business risks, needs and solutions for central station network security. The seminar is April 2 and you can register at the ISC West 2008 educational program Web site. Convergence has arrived. The alarm industry is looking to capitalize on the integration of physical and network security. The question is, “Are you doing enough to secure your alarm business?”

Central station operations are more vulnerable to attack over the Internet – and the risk much greater – than the possibility of attack with guns and bullets. 

Central station operations are more vulnerable to attack over the Internet – and the risk much greater – than the possibility of attack with guns and bullets. Central stations have historically focused on creating a secure work environment with bricks and mortar. Building strong walls, delivering phone lines underground and supplying backup power are hallmarks of how the alarm industry defines a “secure” central station. But, the reality is that central stations are not doing enough to reduce vulnerability to new types of attack.

These new threats can come from anywhere in the world, any time of day, and have all new methods and tactics. Internet connections, wireless transmissions, Bluetooth features are all “back-doors” that need to be protected as well as entrances to a building. The hacker’s count on lack of knowledge by the targets and this seminar will help you design defenses against these new threats.

The IP Revolution. In today’s world, IP has standardized and revolutionized the communications architecture. Along with the benefits brought by extensive change, are new risks that can “virtually” cripple central station operations. Inbound and outbound calls can be stopped, signals hidden, and data captured.

Live demonstrations of the tools and tricks used by hacker’s will show how vulnerable data can be. You will be amazed how odd bits of information can be manipulated to give a hacker free reign in your network.

Program Content. The presentation educates executives and administrators on the threats facing central stations data networks. As central stations deploy IP based systems and the alarm devices become IP based and accessible, new strategies and security measures are needed to protect resources from invisible threats. We will define what the threats are, how they operate, and provide strategies to protect and monitor IP networks. The presentation elements include:

1.         Know your enemy: Internet threats, who and what are they?

2.            Demonstrate common hacking and social engineering techniques.

3.         Data security life cycle

4.            Strategies for securing data networks

5.            Security through monitoring – Continuous Data Monitoring

Hank Goldberg is a founder and vice president of Secure Global Solutions, LLC, an IT resource group to the security industry. Over the past 30 years, Hank has been a partner in the leading companies developing central station software. Contact the writer at (949) 502-5841, hank.goldberg@secglobe.net or visit our website at secglobe.net